Unionized Quebec voice directors behind English dubs for live action and animated media secured their first ever collective agreement on September 24. Represented by the Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA), these directors have secured a starting hourly rate of $85 per hour with 10.59 per cent increase over three years, insurance and retirement contributions and preference of engagement for ACTRA members. English sync dubbing brings foreign-language media to an English-speaking audience.
ACTRA Montreal president, Simon Peacock, said this agreement was long awaited for performers who have been calling for better protections for two decades. For performers, the piecemeal approach to negotiating agreements with performers led to widespread inequity in the industry. People would receive different pay rates for the same work, and the onus of enforcing labour standards fell on the individual workers.
The amount of opportunities in English dubbing has recently risen, according to Peacock. He said the “two screen phenomenon” has led to subtitles not being used as often. He said a bulk of dubbing work is done for foreign media being brought onto streaming platforms. This growth has led to increased opportunity for performers.
The voice dubbing industry in Quebec is a leader on the world stage. Dubbing generates more than $32 million per year. A significant portion of this revenue comes from abroad. The industry also creates about 1,250 jobs, including full-time and various freelance positions.
“Our voice directors and our voice performers, between the two of them, are the talent that make this so well regarded throughout the world,” Peacock said. “It was kind of ridiculous to us that the directors, the ones that just have artistic control of this product, weren’t actually being acknowledged in a way that was reasonable.”
Peacock said he was pleased to see an agreement reached because the workers in English dubbing often go unnoticed.
“It’s definitely flown under the radar. As I said, it’s been 20 years that some of these members have been talking to us about this,” he said. “I think dubbing is kind of a hidden industry anyway, like nobody becomes a celebrity from being a dubber because you’re replacing other people’s voices and their face remains.”
The lack of collective agreement also led to vulnerable English dub workers being more likely to get exploited in the industry.
“We find that a lot of our more vulnerable communities, they’re not even offered the same opportunities to start with, because they often haven’t had the same ability to get the experience,” Peacock said. “For them to then break into these fields meant they’re often coming in at largely discounted rates.”
Peacock said this agreement affects all kinds of workers in film and media because of the wide variety of jobs workers in the industry take on. To make a living in the gig economy, workers need to have multiple skills, Peacock said.
While the new collective agreement only applies to a relatively small group, Peacock said this victory demonstrates that ACTRA will continue to fight for as many workers as possible.
“Anybody in the arts in Canada, and especially English-speakers in Quebec, has to have work. There isn’t one part of the industry that’s going to pay all their bills. So any extra tool we can get into that toolbox is hugely important,” Peacock said. “Now we can protect this work.”
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